The spectacular 26,638-square-foot mansion at 120 Carnarvon in the Memorial area turned heads when it went on the market last October for a staggering $29.5 million. It has been off the market for a while. As of Tuesday, the property is back with a change in listing agent and real estate company, but the asking price hasn’t budged.
For those who are into numbers, that breaks down to $1,107.44 per square foot.
Stephen Way, the homeowner who secured his fortune as founder and CEO of Houston International Insurance Group, is proud of his majestic property and well he should be. The British style manor house is appointed in a luxurious fashion that would make the Crawleys of Downton Abbey fame feel quite comfortable.
Consider luxurious details such as the rich walnut flooring, Fortuny silk-upholstered walls, gold gilded accents, rich paneling, coffered ceilings and detailed moldings and woodworking throughout.
With six bedrooms, seven full baths and nine half baths, two kitchens (one for catering), five fireplaces and a 3,700 square foot guest house boasting two bedrooms, there is room for the entire Crawley clan and a need for almost as many staff as the earl and countess employed. The six-car garage would do nicely as well.
And then there are the amenities that the Crawleys would never have imagined — a fitness center with spa, a wine vault and a beautifully paneled home theater. For the outdoor life there is a stone terrace and swimming pool with cabanas baths, a playground and a summer kitchen.
Built in 2003, the house sits amid 4.19 acres of beautifully manicured park-like grounds and parterre gardens with a walking trail and maze organized by shrubbery.
The listing today is handled by ever-popular retired restaurateur, now real estate agent Gigi Huang, who began her career with Martha Turner Sotheby’s International Realty. Earlier this year, she joined Douglas Elliman. Surely adding to the allure is marketing input from celebrity real estate broker Fredrik Eklund, noted for selling the most exclusive real estate in Los Angeles, New York and Miami. And now Houston.
Click thru the photo gallery below for more looks at Houston’s own British manor: